All eyes on Asian Terminals. Twenty-foot metal containers are stacked along the facilities of Asian Terminals Inc. in Manila in this file photo. The publicly listed company, which is partly owned by Dubai Ports World, the world’s third-largest port operator, was reportedly disqualified from bidding for the Manila North Harbor. Meanwhile, the Philippine Ports Authority has yet to issue a formal statement regarding the issue. --Roy Domingo

AFTER reducing container scanning fees charged to port users, shippers, and forwarders, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) will soon levy regular rates so that the government will be able to pay for loans used to acquire the security equipment.

Earlier, the Port Users Confederation (PUC) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI)—the country’s largest business organization—have clamored for a rate reduction in scanning twenty-foot metal containers. Instead of the regular $25 and $50 levied on every inspected twenty- and forty-foot metal box, the two groups have appealed to cut rates to $5 and $10 respectively.

Port users claimed that they should not be burdened by a government measure intended to curb smuggling without improving its services to shippers.

For his part, Customs Commissioner Napoleon L. Morales said that the bureau has already assigned officials to collect fees using the old rates, proceeds of which will be used to pay for the 30 nonintrusive container x-ray machines.

Morales has yet to specify a period for the old rates to take effect.

Two weeks ago, the bureau granted the port users’ request and started implementing the reduced rates immediately after Finance Secretary Margarito Teves gave his approval.

Atty. Julito L. Doria, chief of the Customs’ nonintrusive container inspection system project, admitted that the $5 and $10 rate was “too cheap.” At these rates, the bureau would be unable to cover x-ray operations and pay for the loan, mandated by an executive order.

However, queues have started to build up at the bureau’s gates after port users were instructed to split their fee payments into two, three-fourths of which went to the loan payments and the remaining one-fourth to a fund covering the equipment’s maintenance.

Since the government implemented the fee last May, shippers complained about the two-window system, saying that movement of cargoes was hampered. There were also allegations that locators at the economic zones were charged twice and that the BOC started implementing the fee even without scanning the containers at all.

AFTER reducing container scanning fees charged to port users, shippers, and forwarders, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) will soon levy regular rates so that the government will be able to pay for loans used to acquire the security equipment.

THE Philippine government has rejected a proposal which would allow the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to have its own vessel registry since this would send “a wrong signal” to international shipping companies.